Help muchas appreciated re: wireless internet

[janecayman]

hi i am really struggling with trying to get this working and wandered if anyone coudl give me a point in the right direction.


i have a powerbook g4 and a belkin wireless router, i have been told that as i have an airport card built in i should now be able to connect but i can not. do i need an adaptor / main computer as base / to set up a new network?

thanks very much for your help i am not sure where else to turn belkin keep 'loosing my line' and apple asked for $50 to answer me!!

many muchas thanks for any pointers, cheers jane

 

[AppleIntelRock]

can you please be more specific. is the magic spirit of wireless sabotage preventing you from connecting, or are you getting an error message?

 

[Lau]

i have a powerbook g4 and a belkin wireless router, i have been told that as i have an airport card built in i should now be able to connect but i can not. do i need an adaptor / main computer as base / to set up a new network?

Although you should be fine with the airport card once you've got it set up, you will need to connect using an ethernet cable initially. You should have got one with your router. Having to use an ethernet cable basically stops anyone being able to set up your router from next door! But you don't need a base computer once you've got it set up, you just have to connect with the ethernet cable when you want to make any changes.

When you first connect, you should get some sort of wizard appearing that will talk you through setting it up. If the router is second hand, hold in the reset button for 20 seconds or so to make sure all the previous settings have gone, and then hopefully the wizard will appear.

 

[GITANAJAVA]

Perhaps I'm not understanding the original question, but why the Ethernet suggestion? I have Airport preferences set on Automatic and the Wi-Fi connects; I've never even taken the Ethernet out of its original packing.

 

[stevep]

All the routers I've played with need to be set up with by connecting to them with an ethernet cable, because by default the wireless has not been enabled. Look at Belkins website or on their instruction leaflet to find out the Belkin default ip address - it could be, say, 192.168.0.254 (but thats just a guess- you have to find out the exact address). Also find out what your isp settings are, things like username, password, PPPoE or PPPoA, etc etc.
Connect to your router by opening a browser and typing in the ip address in the address bar. This will open the routers setup page.
Most routers have an automatic setup routine, in which you type in your isp details and it will detect the correct settings. If that doesn't work you'll have to find the manual setup routine on the routers setup page.
When you've set up your connection with the ethernet cable, you can enable wireless on the router and then set up the Airport card on the Mac (System Preferences . Network). If you choose DHCP you'll probably find it will connect straightaway.
When you've got it working ok you can then worry about security settings - WEP, WPA or MAC address filtering.
The Belkin instructions are usually fairly good from what I remember - if you read it through and follow them logically there should be few if any problems.

 

[janecayman]

thanks vvvv much i am now sorted

the help has been excellent.

for others with the same problem i urge you to read the threads espcially about linking up with the ethernet in the first instance.

thanks again

jane

 

[stevep]

Good to hear that the help has worked - so many 'asking for advice' threads are left dangling in mid-problem, with no apparent conclusion!
Good Luck